Improved ice-pitcher



New York city, in the county and State of UNITED ASTATES PATENT OFFICE.

STEPHEN CURTIS, JR., OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND HENRY YALE, OE SAME PLACE.

IMPROVED ICE-PITCHER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 34,228, dated January 21, 1862.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STEPHEN CURTIS, J r., of

New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Ice-Pitchers, applicable also t0 all vessels designed to receive ice or other hard substances in large masses; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and eXact description of the same, which I have prepared with a view to the obtaining of Letters Patent therefor.

The accompanying drawing represents a vertical section through anice-pitcher constructed according to my improvement. The drawing forms a part of this specification.

The object of my invention is to protect the bottom of the vessel from the Violent me-A chanical action due to theimpact of the lumps of ice or the like upon the bottom. Its nature consists in the employment or introduction of a false or additional bottom a little above the true base or bottom of the vessel and sustaining it in such position by springs, so that it may yield somewhat to the impact of the masses without transmitting through the supports any sharp concussion or violent blow, said false bottom having asuitable opening or suitable openings in its interior or edge to allow the escape of water from beneath the bottom thus supported when the pitcher or other vessel is being emptied.

It is found in practice that some of the lnost elegant, lightest, and best-protected icepitchers-best protectedsagainst heat aloneare short-lived and of little service by reason of the cracking and failure of the inner shell of the bottom. I believe this fracturing of the bottom to be due entirely to the repeated and violent shocks received from the masses of ice plunged into the same, the ice and the ordinary bottom being both almost absolutely inelastic. My invention is a means of remedying this evil,which is of great importance.

In the drawing, A is the outer, and B the inner, shell of an ordinary metallic ice-pitcher, the space between being filled with pulverized charcoal or the like or allowed to remain empty, as may be preferred.

My invention is capable of use with any and all styles of construction of vessel, and the details of the vessel shown, except as relates to the additional or spring bottom,are entirely immaterial.

C is the false or additional bottom, and D D D are helical springs introduced between it and the true inner bottom of the vessel B. These springs may be secured by soldering or otherwise to either the spring-bottom C or to the true inner bottom B, or to both, to prevent their becoming displaced. The front side or edge of the spring-bottom C, by which I mean the edge presented on that side of the pitcher to which the nose is connected, is cut away, so as to form a liberal opening C' for the ready escape of water from beneath C when the pitcher is upturned, but not so large as materially to impair the effect of C in protecting B from violence.

When my pitcher receives a mass of ice, it strikes with its usual velocity upon the top of C, which may be made of any suitable material, (I p refer a base covered with a precious metal,) but produces a very moderate concussion thereon, because by the yielding of the springs D D, dac., the motion is stopped gradually instead of suddenly. After the motion is stopped the tension of the springs D D, rizo., elevates C partially or completely to its original position, according to circumstances, and thenceforward the pitcher and its contents are used in the ordinary manner and produce the ordinary effect until another lump or quantity of ice or other hard material is plunged in the pitcher, when the false bottom C again yields, so as to diminish the shock.

The true bottom in all conditions fuliills its usual functions, except that instead of bearing the heavy blows from the ice it receives only a momentary or longer-increased tension upon the supports for the springs D D, dac., This increased tension is a gentle force compared with the percussion of an inelastic mass, and-the true bottom, as alsothe spring, l pact of messes of ice or the like and pre- Will, I believe, endure until destroyed by other agencies than the shock of such masses. Having now fully described my invention, what I claim as new therein is- The construction and use, in ice-pitchers or other vessels, of the spring-bottom C, supported upon springs, so as to yield to the iinserve the true bottom of the Vessel, substantially in the manner and with the advantage herein set forth.

STEPHEN CURTIS, JR. Witnesses:

G. H. BABoooK. D. W. STE'rsoN. 

